On Monday, H&M apologized for advertising a hoodie with the phrase “Coolest Monkey in the Jungle” modeled on a Black child. On Tuesday, Rachel Dolezal, the former NAACP branch president who once went viral for being outed as a white woman presenting herself as Black, decided to make an offensive hoodie of her own.
According to the Root, Dolezal created a “protest hoodie” to counter H&M’s racist article of clothing. Dolezal’s concept was another green hoodie, also racist, as it reads “Coolest Prince in the Hood.”
. @hm, have you lost your damned minds?!?!?! pic.twitter.com/EYuCXLZtv3
— Charles M. Blow (@CharlesMBlow) January 8, 2018
Rachel Dolezal is selling 'Coolest Prince in the Hood' sweatshirts to protest H&M and people aren't happy with her choice of words: https://t.co/kglNNuPxpM pic.twitter.com/l94b3L6ptA
— The Root (@TheRoot) January 10, 2018
In a post promoting Dolezal’s take on the hoodie, she describes that she’s attempting to profit off her disguise as a Black woman recreating the design because her son was once called a “monkey” in second grade, a historically-racist slur that compares Black people to animals.
However, by insisting on using the word “hood” (and by, you know, insisting she’s a “transracial” woman), Dolezal opened her design up to another round of internet outrage. Though the post has now been deleted, the Root collected several responses to her hoodies, the proceeds of which are only going to “the 3 coolest princes in my household (my 3 black sons)… just in case anyone was wondering,” her website states.
“Don’t you think Hood sounds almost as bad from what I’ve seen and heard when people talk about the hood they are talking about a bad area maybe something a little cheerful like block or town,” one commenter voiced.
“I have a hard time seeing how this is a protest hoodie. What results do you expect this to get that will benefit the greater community and not just your pockets!?! I hate to question this because I’m sure it does hit home, but the timing and the verbiage on your hoodie seems no less offensive than what H&M did. It don’t sit well with me,” another commenter shared.
Dolezal, to her… ability to process internet vitriol, has already replaced her offending hoodie with one that says “Coolest Prince in the World.”
In a new post with the revised image, Dolezal says she used the phrase “Coolest Prince in the Hood” because the sweatshirt has a hood, and because ‘hood is a shortened word for neighborhood. Which, you know, wasn’t lost on the people who criticized her for using the word “hood,” but sure, Dolezal, go ahead an double down on your shitty, badly worded design.
“Some people liked it, some didn’t like the word ‘hood.’ I called production and asked them to change it to ‘Coolest Prince in the World.’ So, if you want one of the updated ones, go to the link in the bio. If you still don’t like it, [peace sign emoji],” Dolezal wrote in the new product post.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BdxkxnSFRZG/?hl=en&taken-by=racheladolezal
Someone’s already commented on the post expressing their like of the former “in the Hood” design, so it’s probably only a matter of time before Dolezal decides to whip up a batch of those in another attempt to further profit off a viral mishap as a white woman playing dress up, so great!
If you are now in dire need of seeing smart people turn racist garbage into something beautiful, please check out these reimaginings of the offensive hoodie instead.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BdsgiCNnil0/
https://www.instagram.com/p/BdsuTpQgeXX/
https://www.instagram.com/p/BdrNKMkD0vZ/
H/T the Root